Improvement in hand-trucks



P. H. HUMES.

Hand Truck.

Patented March' l9, 1861;

PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM O. RENTGEN, OF KEQKUK, IOWVA.

IMPROVEMENT IN HAND-TRUCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 31,741, dated March 19, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1. WILLIAM C. RENTGEN, of Keokuk, in the county of Lee and State of Iowa, have invented a'new and useful Improvement in Hand-Trucks; and I do-hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forminga part of this specification, in which Figure l is a perspective view of my improved truck. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Fig. 3 is a detached view of a portion of the same.

Similar letters of reference in each of the several figures indicate corresponding parts.

The nature of my invention consists in the employment of a hinged curved adjustable holding and stop bar, in combination with the sharp curved or inclined portion of the truck and the auxiliary wheels or rollers on said back portion, whereby sugar-hogsheads,

bales of cotton, 850., can be picked up and rolled away with great convenience, ease, and

safety, as will be presently shown.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

, A represents a truck-frame, constructed very similarly to the frames of trucks at present in use. B B are the wheels, arranged on an axle O. The rear portion of the truckframe is curved, as shown at a, so as to pass under a hogshead or bale, as illustrated in Fig. '2, and fit snugly the form of the same. In this curved portion, small auxiliary rollers b b are arranged, so that when the frame is thrown up to the position shown in Fig. 2 it shall rest upon rollers, and thus more easily, while its curved back portion is passing under the hogshead or bale. By having auxiliary rollers the truck can be rolled up the steps, as said rollers serve for the truck to run upon until the large rollers come into play or rest upon the steps.

D is a hinged curved holding and stop bar to the forward part or hook. It is attached of the frame by means of a bolt 0, so that it may be shifted back or forward to suit the different sizes of hogsheads or bales to be carried. The holes cl cl allow for these adj ustments.

Tne black dotted circle shows the hogshead fairly upon the truck or as it appears when the truck is adj usted to an inclined position, so as to rest upon its main wheels, as shown in full red lines.

This machine is self-loading by the process now described: Elevate the lever to a vertical position; slide the two points of sides un-' der the package by a pressure of the foot, which is easily done by the small Wheels at the ends of the curved side pieces. The canthook is let fall upon the package. Then the simple bearing upon the lever elevates the package and places it upon the machine. By placing the lever in a vertical position, resting the machine upon the small wheels in the ends of the sides, the truck-wheels will be raised from the floor. The small wheels and jaws of the sides act as a fulcrum until the wheels strike the floor.

I do not claim the use of a holding adj ustable hook irrespective of the manner of attaching and adjusting said hook and of its combination with the auxiliary wheels; but What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is The arrangement of auxiliary Wheels 11 b in the rear ends of the truck-frame relatively to the main wheels B B and the curved adjustable holding and stop bar D, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

. WVM. O. RENTGEN.

Witnesses: v I

G. YORKE Ar LEE, R. W. FENWIOK. 

